PARIS. – Italian Jannik Sinner, current world number one, and Serbian Novak Djokovic were placed on opposite sides of the 2026 Roland Garros draw, opening the possibility of a final between the two in the Parisian Grand Slam. Sinner, the tournament’s top seed and last year’s finalist, thus avoided a possible early encounter with Djokovic during the draw held this Thursday in Paris. The Italian arrives as the main candidate for the title after winning five consecutive tournaments, including the Rome Masters, and remaining undefeated since February. In the absence of Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, reigning champion who is still recovering from a wrist injury, Sinner will seek to conquer for the first time the only Grand Slam that is not yet in his record. The Italian would have a demanding path to the final. In a hypothetical quarter-final, he would face the American Ben Shelton, fifth seed, while in the semi-finals he could face the Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime or the Russian Daniil Medvedev.
On the other side of the bracket appears Djokovic, third seed, who at 39 years old aims to conquer his fourth title in Paris and reach his 25th Grand Slam, an unprecedented record in the history of tennis.
